African Cities: Unlocking Financing for Urbanisation

Aerial photo of Dakar, Senegal, in 2020. — Aerial view of Dakar, Senegal, in 2020. Five years earlier, it was supposed to become one of the first cities in Africa to float a municipal bond worth USD 40 million. Despite having completed all the regulatory steps and obtained all the necessary approvals outlined in Senegal’s laws, as well as having generated sufficient demand from investors, Senegalese President Macky Sall intervened and the central government withdrew its support. The bond was never issued.

© picture alliance / Xinhua News Agency | Louis Denga

Recommended Reading

- Lena Gutheil
The Impact of Urbanisation on Political Regimes in Africa: A Literature Review

The working paper finds that urbanisation does not automatically lead to democratisation, but structures the way citizens relate to the state. While urban density facilitates collective accountability demands, the link between urbanisation and individual accountability relationships with the state is less straightforward. The reviewed evidence suggests that the force to reckon with is not the middle class, but rather the poor masses. It is not enough for governments to cater to the elites anymore, as the share of the urban poor becomes too large to ignore.

Megatrends Working Paper 2022 03, 23.12.2022, 24 Pages

doi:10.18449/2022MTA-WP03
- Download (PDF) | 814 KB
- Sina Schlimmer
Building a City from Scratch?

African cities are growing fast. A highly controversial solution is the construction of so-called “new cities”. Based on a study of the new Urban Hub of Diamniadio (UHD) in Senegal, this paper unpacks and challenges the idea of new cities as a horizontal, one-size-fits-all solution. The paper argues that the UHD represents an inherently political policy tool, used to reassert central state power over strategic territories. As a political flagship project of President Macky Sall, the UHD is a top-down approach that excludes decentralised bodies and citizens from urban policy making.

Megatrends Policy Brief 2022 06, 20.10.2022, 10 Pages

doi:10.18449/2022MTA-PB06
- Download (PDF) | 903 KB

The Impact of Urbanisation on Political Regimes in Africa: A Literature Review

Building a City from Scratch?